MANILA, Philippines - An official of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Wednesday said all the Congressional inquiries into the Mamasapano incident should be made public and not in an executive session.
In an interview with Church-run Radyo Veritas, CBCP Permanent Council on Public Affairs chairman and Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said such hearings must be made public if members of the Senate Committee on Public Order are not hiding anything.
"Dapat ang katotohanan ang lumabas...Nagtatanong sila ng mga hindi dapat na itanong, yung nagtatanong ng buo na parang may pinoprotektahan, dapat walang executive session, isapubliko ang lahat...Bakit nila ginagawa yan? May itinatago ba sila sa publiko?" the bishop said.
Bishop Pabillo said that the truth in the Mamasapano operations last January 25 that left scores dead, including 44 Special Action Force commandos and a number of Moro Liberation Front (MILF) fighters, will only come out if an independent body handles the probe.
The Senate probe aims at protecting the President from being dragged into the incident and prevent the Bansangmoro Basic Law (BBL) deliberations from being derailed, the prelate said.
"Ang tao dapat ang loyalty natin, nasa truth ang loyalty natin, sa bayan at hindi sa iisang tao lamang o sa iisang programa na baka masira ang BBL. Baka tamaan si ang Presidente natin. Dapat ang katotohanan ang hinahanap natin," the bishop said.
The CBCP, in an earlier pastoral statement, said the MILF leadership must also explain why Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as Marwan, and Filipino accomplice Basit Usman managed to stay within its territory without the MILF's knowledge.
"It must also explain satisfactorily why international terrorists were within the territory supposedly occupied by them," the CBCP statement read.